Innovation and productivity are the bets of AmBev
Valor Econômico
In view of the greatest international economic crisis of the last 70 years, which in Brazil seems to be slowing down, the engineer João Castro Neves, in the general management of AmBev, the fifth largest beer industry of the world for seven months, is "cautiously optimistic". The combination of a cheaper dollar, increase of the minimum wage and lower inflation regarding foods improved the scenario for 2009.
Supporter of the lean management policy, Neves, who started in the beer world 13 years ago, in Brahma, continued cutting down on expenditure as soon as he took over the AmBev, with operations in Brazil and in another 13 countries in the three Americas. The adjustment, which included the closing of the unit of Mogi Mirim (SP) in February, helped the company to increase the productivity of the plants in 10% this year.
Besides fastening the belt and increasing the productivity, Neves tells his formula to face an economic scenario, that was showing to be negative at the end of the last year, is based on a third pillar: innovation. The company has invested in new packaging, such as the 1 liter bottle and the smaller can, of 269 ml. "We saw that Coke and Pepsi were launching products more according to the pocket of the consumer and we started developing a project of new packaging for beers".
Neves is studying "a little barrel", a shape that has stimulated the performance of Heineken in Brazil, which launched a 5-liter model. One month ago, AmBev also launched in the markets of São Paulo and Minas Gerais, responsible for 40% of the sales in Brazil, Antarctica Sub Zero. It is a beer filtered twice at 2ºC negative that, according to company, results in "a softer and refreshing" drink. The launchings are part of a trend that started nearly 3 years ago in the national beer industry, which stayed over a century practically without news, observed Milton Seligman, officer of Corporate Matters of AmBev.
Neves obtained positive results in the first quarter, with an increase of 17% in the net profits, R$ 5.6 billion (US$ 3 billion) and 32% in profit, to R$ 1.6 billion (US$ 864. million). The balance of the second quarter should be announced next Thursday. After ending 2008 with retraction of 0.3 percentage point in its market share, the company was able to recover in the first five months of this year. According to data of Nielsen, the company had, in May, a share of 68.3% (an increase of 1.3 percentage point over January). The rival Schincariol, second in the ranking of the sector, was the one that lost more space in the period, staying with 12.3% of sales. Next came Petrópolis, with 9.7% and Femsa, 7.6%.